US strikes on Pak empowering extremists: Zardari

United Nations, Sep 26: The US' strikes on Pakistani soil were not eliminating terrorists, but actually serving to empower the forces against which Pakistan and America were fighting together, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said in his UN address in New York on Thursday, Sep 25.

Indirectly describing US' incursions as a 'violation of Pakistan's sovereignty,' Zardari said, "Violating our nation's sovereignty is not helpful in eliminating the terrorist menace. Indeed this could have the opposite effect. Attacks within Pakistan that violate our sovereignty actually serve to empower the forces against which we fought together."

He said that Pakistan was a victim of terrorism and that its people had begun to wonder if they stand alone to fight it out. "Pakistan has lost more soldiers in this war than all the 37 countries that have their forces in Afghanistan," Zardari said and added that Pakistan will never surrender to terrorism or succumb to it and was now reaching out to the entire civilised world for support.

Pakistan would work patiently to persuade leaders in FATA and the Pukhtunkhwa province to accept the writ of government and turn their back on terrorists, the Daily Times quoted Zardrai as saying in his address.

He added that Pakistan would work together with Afghanistan and the US-led NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan to ensure the safety of Pak-Afghan border.

Demanding a UN probe into last year's assassination of his wife and former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, he said that by doing so the UN would reassure the people of Pakistan that the international community cared about them and also prove that the UN charter of justice was more than just rhetoric.